The Leader has been named the best large weekly newspaper in Arkansas. It has offices in Jacksonville and Cabot and covers north Pulaski County, Lonoke County and White County. The Leader is a family owned and operated newspaper that was founded in 1986.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

TOP STORY >> Aldermen face off in November

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

Jacksonville will have five contested aldermen races this year, Lonoke will have three, while Sherwood will have just one. Filing ended Monday.

In Jacksonville and Sherwood, candidates do not declare their party affiliation, but run as independents in the November general election.

However in Lonoke, candidates run as party candidates.

In Jacksonville, two longtime aldermen announced their retirement and a third opted not to run, opening up those seats for newcomers. Each of those open seats garnered two candidates each. Two other aldermen filed for another round and both have opposition.

In the race for Ward 1, Position 2, Alderman Marshall Smith is retiring and Jim Moore and James Bolden III have filed for the seat.

For Ward 2, Position 2, Alderman Terry Sansing filed for re-election and has drawn Rizelle Aaron as an opponent. In Ward 3, Aldermen Linda Rinker opted not to run again for her Position 2 seat. Trying to gain that seat are Barbara Mashburn and Derek Evans.

Alderman Bob Stroud is retiring from his Ward 4, Position 2 seat, opening it up to a race between Mary Twitty and Freddie Booker. In Ward 5, Aldermen Bill Howard filed for re-election and his opponent will be Roger Sundermeier Jr.

The Jacksonville candidates will square off in November.

In Lonoke city, three members of the city council have competition for their seats but only the race for Position 5 was decided Tuesday when incumbent Efrem Z. Jones faced Lloyd Whitaker in the Democratic party primary.

In the race for Position 2, incumbent Pat Howell faced Danny Whitehurst in the Democratic primary. The winner faces Republican Stacey Pennington Moore in November. The winner of Position 1 also will be decided in November when Jane Derning, the Democratic incumbent, faces Republican challenger John D. Robinson.

In Sherwood, of the four seats up for re-election there is only competition for Dr. Steve Fender’s seat. Fender recently announced that he was not seeking re-election for his Ward 4, Position 2 seat. The two candidates vying for that seat are Bob Ferguson and Mike Sanders.

Aldermen Charlie Harmon, Ward 1, Position 2; Kevin Lilly, Ward 2, Position 2; and Marina Brooks, Ward 3, Position 2 have no opposition and will automatically be re-elected in November.